Between 1932 and 1948, the roots for the current wars in Iraq were planted.

The Mosul–Haifa oil pipeline (also known as Mediterranean pipeline) was a crude oil pipeline from the oil fields in Kirkuk, located in north Iraq, through Jordan to Haifa (now on the territory of Israel). The pipeline was operational in 1935–1948. Its length was about 942 kilometres (585 mi), with a diameter of 12 inches (300 mm) (reducing to 10 and 8 inches (250 and 200 mm) in parts), and it took about 10 days for crude oil to travel the full length of the line. The oil arriving in Haifa was distilled in the Haifa refineries, stored in tanks, and then put in tankers for shipment to Europe.

The pipeline was built by the Iraq Petroleum Company between 1932 and 1935, during which period most of the area through which the pipeline passed was under a British mandate approved by the League of Nations. The pipeline was one of two pipelines carrying oil from the Kirkuk oilfield to the Mediterranean coast. The main pipeline split at Haditha with a second line carrying oil to Tripoli, Lebanon, which was then under a French mandate. This line was built primarily to satisfy the demands of the French partner in IPC, Compagnie Française des Pétroles, for a separate line to be built across French mandated territory.

The pipeline and the Haifa refineries were considered strategically important by the British Government, and indeed provided much of the fuel needs of the British and American forces in the Mediterranean during the Second World War.

The pipeline was a target of attacks by Arab gangs during the Great Arab Revolt, and as a result one of the main objectives of a joint British-Jewish Special Night Squads commanded by Captain Orde Wingate was to protect the pipeline against such attacks. Later on, the pipeline was the target of attacks by the Irgun. [Background.]

In 1948, with the outbreak of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the official operation of the pipeline ended when the Iraqi Government refused to pump any more oil through it.

Why is this relevant today? Haaretz reported soon after the Iraq war started in 2003:

The United States has asked Israel to check the possibility of pumping oil from Iraq to the oil refineries in Haifa. The request came in a telegram last week from a senior Pentagon official to a top Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem.

The Prime Minister’s Office, which views the pipeline to Haifa as a “bonus” the U.S. could give to Israel in return for its unequivocal support for the American-led campaign in Iraq, had asked the Americans for the official telegram.

The new pipeline would take oil from the Kirkuk area, where some 40 percent of Iraqi oil is produced, and transport it via Mosul, and then across Jordan to Israel. The U.S. telegram included a request for a cost estimate for repairing the Mosul-Haifa pipeline that was in use prior to 1948. During the War of Independence [what Jews call the 1948 war to form the state of Israel], the Iraqis stopped the flow of oil to Haifa and the pipeline fell into disrepair over the years.

***

National Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky said yesterday that the port of Haifa is an attractive destination for Iraqi oil and that he plans to discuss this matter with the U.S. secretary of energy during his planned visit to Washington next month.

***

In response to rumors about the possible Kirkuk-Mosul-Haifa pipeline, Turkey has warned Israel that it would regard this development as a serious blow to Turkish-Israeli relations.

So the fighting over Iraq can be traced back to events occurring in 1948 and before.

But let’s fast-forward to subsequent little-known events in Iraq.

The CIA plotted to poison the Iraqi leader in 1960.

In 1963, the U.S. backed the coup which succeeded in killing the head of Iraq.

And everyone knows that the U.S. also toppled Saddam Hussein during the Iraq war. But most don’t know that neoconservatives planned regime change in Iraq once again in 1991.

In 1991, he was the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy – the number 3 position at the Pentagon. And I had gone to see him when I was a 1-Star General commanding the National Training Center.

***

And I said, “Mr. Secretary, you must be pretty happy with the performance of the troops in Desert Storm.” And he said: “Yeah, but not really, because the truth is we should have gotten rid of Saddam Hussein, and we didn’t … But one thing we did learn [from the Persian Gulf War] is that we can use our military in the region – in the Middle East – and the Soviets won’t stop us. And we’ve got about 5 or 10 years to clean up those old Soviet client regimes – Syria, Iran, IRAQ – before the next great superpower comes on to challenge us.”

And many people don’t know that the architects of the Iraq War themselves admitted the war was about oil. For example, former U.S. Secretary of Defense – and former 12-year Republican Senator – Chuck Hagel said of the Iraq war in 2007:

People say we’re not fighting for oil. Of course we are. They talk about America’s national interest. What the hell do you think they’re talking about? We’re not there for figs.

4 Star General John Abizaid – the former commander of CENTCOM with responsibility for Iraq – said:

Of course it’s about oil, it’s very much about oil, and we can’t really deny that.

Set during the Great Depression, the novel focuses on the Joads, a poor family of tenant farmers driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship, agricultural industry changes and bank foreclosures forcing tenant farmers out of work. Due to their nearly hopeless situation, and in part because they are trapped in the Dust Bowl, the Joads set out for California. Along with thousands of other "Okies", they seek jobs, land, dignity, and a future.

The Grapes of Wrath is frequently read in American high school and college literature classes due to its historical context and enduring legacy.

"About 200 US nuclear bombs currently deployed in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey. In this regard, we are working on renewing nuclear combat techniques, "said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Minister Shoigu, commented on the current state of international relations, but also the gradual expansion of NATO.

- Poor military-political situation in the world gets even worse, especially in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. But besides this, attention is paid to the expansion of NATO. For relatively krartko time membership in the Alliance is virtually doubled, with admission of 12 new members - said Shoigu.

The US Army in Europe will complete its pre-positioning of equipment for use by a Heavy Brigade in six European countries by the end of 2016, Army Commander General Ben Hodges told a Department of Defense briefing.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The European Activity Set consists of 12,000 pieces of equipment stored in Europe for US-based rotational forces to use when training and its first storage sites will be at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, Romania; Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria; and Mumaiciai, Lithuania, according to the US Army.

"By September 2016, forward-deployed equipment is going to be left behind in Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria, Hodges told the briefing on Wednesday. "The remainder will be completed over the course of the coming year."

US Army Europe and Army Materiel Command will begin storing portions of the European Activity Set at three initial forward locations later in December, with plans to expand to additional countries at a later date, the US Army’s official home page reported on December 1.

A Russian missile cruiser and a coast guard powerboat had to intervene after a merchant vessel flying the Turkish flag hampered a Russian convoy transporting two drill platforms to a new location in Russian territorial waters.

The decision to relocate them closer to Crimea was caused by the complicated international situation, according to a press release from the Russian Chernomorneftegaz state company that owns the platforms

While the two rigs were being moved to their new location, a vessel under the Turkish flag crossed the convoy’s path.

“Acting in violation of regulations for preventing collisions and against the generally accepted conventions of navigation, the Turkish vessel failed to get out of the way of the convoy. It approached crossways and attempted to stop its course, thus creating potential for a collision,” Chernomorneftegaz said in a statement, stressing that the captain of the Turkish vessel operated radio silence despite requests to respond.

The incident was “resolved” when a powerboat from the Russian coast guard and a missile cruiser came to the aid of the Russian convoy and chased the Turkish vessel off.

The company says the B-312 and B-319 rigs are worth 25 billion rubles (about US$357mn). Both rigs have reportedly being safely brought to Russian territorial waters.

It is the second recent sea incident involving the Russian Navy and Turkish vessels.

'Islamic State' works with Pentagon to destroy Syria

In July two senior Centcom analysts filed a formal complaint saying officials at the Pentagon were manufacturing rosy assessments on the military campaign against the Islamic State. In September an additional 50 defense analysts signed on to the complaint.

The claim prompted the inspector general at the Pentagon to begin an investigation, an unusual move.

Centcom refused to provide details or comment on the investigation. Centcom spokesman Col. Patrick Ryder said “the I.G. has a responsibility to investigate all allegations made, and we welcome and support their independent oversight.”

According to a report posted by The Daily Beast the “accusations suggest that a large number of people tracking the inner workings of the terror groups think that their reports are being manipulated to fit a public narrative. The allegations echoed charges that political appointees and senior officials cherry-picked intelligence about Iraq’s supposed weapons program in 2002 and 2003.”In November it was reported a task force would be formed on the allegations and on Friday it was announced no less than three House committees will jointly investigate the allegations.

“Today, the House Armed Services Committee, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Appropriations Committee established a Joint Task Force to investigate allegations that senior U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) officials manipulated intelligence products,” Reps. David Nunes (R-Calif.), Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) said in a joint statement.

War On Syria Not the Islamic State

The Pentagon’s investigation and those conducted by Republicans in the House are unlikely to reveal the real reason the war against the Islamic State is a failure.

From the start the air campaign against IS has targeted the economic infrastructure of Syria and Iraq.

“So far the US raids that came after the direct Russian involvement in Syria have only targeted civilian, infrastructure plants, electricity plants and other infrastructure, and they have not targeted any terrorist groups,” Jamal Wakim, a professor at the Lebanese International University, said in November.

“What I can see happening is that the targets they’re selecting are those that have, in many cases, no military value at all to ISIS or any other rebel group but really are intended to break whatever infrastructure the Syrian government will have when the fighting is over, such as: the Conoco oil refinery and the grain elevator,” Alan Sabrosky, a professor at the University of Michigan and a graduate of the US Army War College, said in October.

In mid-October the US targeted the Syrian electrical grid when it conducted airstrikes against two power plants under the control of ISIS in the al-Rudwaniya area to the east of Aleppo.

After two thermal power plants in Aleppo were bombed the Syrian government sent letters to the UN Security Council saying the “airstrikes of the so-called anti-terror US-led coalition against infrastructure in different Syrian areas was a vicious aggression.”

In addition to civilian power plants the US-led coalition has targeted oil and gas fields and facilities in Hassaka and Deir EzZour provinces “causing huge damage to pipelines and oil wells not to mention the great environmental pollution which may lead to greater environmental disasters because of the fires broken out in the fields,” The Syrian Times reports.

The destruction of critical civilian and economic infrastructure in Syria is standard operating procedure.

In Libya, NATO bombed the country’s irrigation system. The system transported water from aquifers beneath Libya’s southern desert to about 70% of the population.

The military targeting of civilian infrastructure, especially of water supplies, is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

During the invasion of Iraq in 1991, the US military targeted the civilian electrical power generation system. The damaged power infrastructure was re-targeted during the 2003 invasion.

In addition to the electrical system in Iraq, the U.S targeted telephone and radio exchanges, relay stations, towers and transmission facilities, food processing, storage and distribution facilities and markets, railroad transportation facilities, bus depots, bridges, highway overpasses, highways, sewage treatment and disposal systems and even historical markers and ancient sites.

In 2001 Thomas J. Nagy “discovered documents of the Defense Intelligence Agency proving beyond a doubt that, contrary to the Geneva Convention, the U.S. government intentionally used sanctions against Iraq to degrade the country’s water supply after the Gulf War. The United States knew the cost that civilian Iraqis, mostly children, would pay, and it went ahead anyway.”

NATO and the US replicated this pattern during the bombardment of the former Yugoslavia. During the campaign, NATO bombed hospitals, schools, daycare centers, food warehouses, civilian homes, and world cultural heritage sites, including churches and monasteries.

Creative Destruction

The Bush neocons hijacked the term “creative destruction” and applied it to the effort to violently deconstruct nations and rebuild them in way advantageous to the globalist order. In Syria this process can only be accomplished if Bashar al-Assad is deposed like Gaddafi was in Libya.

Declassified Defense Intelligence Agency documents reveal the game plan: the destruction of al-Assad’s government and the establishment of a Salafist principality controlled in proxy fashion by Saudi Arabia.

The Islamic State, formerly ISIS and prior to that al-Qaeda in Iraq—established by an admitted Pentagon PSYOP—is the preferred tool of creative destruction. The Centcom investigation will undoubtedly ignore this fact and will be used instead to amplify and expand the war on the Islamic State which is in fact a war on al-Assad.

Work to unearth the remains of an ancient city, discovered in northwestern Turkey during the removal of debris after the massive Marmara earthquake of August 1999, are due to begin in April.

During works to remove the debris of collapsed buildings after the earthquake, a number of historical artifacts were found underground in the İzmit province’s Çukurbağ district. Later on sculptures, building blocks and column stones were also found during construction works in the earthquake zone.

Among them was a giant headless sculpture of Heracles, which is now on display at İzmit’s Ethnography Museum. This very important piece was treated as garbage by the buildings’ owners, who threw it away out of fear that the construction would be halted. After being informed about the sculpture, however, İzmit Museum officials took the sculpture under protection.

A headless and legless Athena sculpture and a panel featuring the Roman emperors Diocletian and Konstantin embracing each other were also among the findings.

Officials then realized the existence very close to the surface of a huge palace-like structure, an ancient underground theater, and huge tunnels that extend as far as the İzmit Gulf.

Following these discoveries, the İzmit Provincial Cultural Directorate surrounded the region with wire fences and took it under 24-hour protection with private security guards.

Speaking ahead of the start of excavations, İzmit Museum Directorate head Rıdvan Gölcük said many Turkish and foreign archaeologists and researchers had applied to them to be involved in the works. Gölcük added that a large meeting would be held this month on the excavations.

“The Heracles statue was found in 2001 in Çukurbağ. Then a short-term excavation was carried out in the neighborhood. Following the expropriation process, further excavations were carried out in the same place in 2009 and unique artifacts were found. Among these artifacts, the panel of the Roman emperors was very important. It was made after the Romans won a victory against a Gothic invasion,” he said.

“Geo-radar work will be carried out in this field for the first time to determine the underground cultural artifacts there. We will start excavations in April. There is a massive monumental structure here and the archaeology world is very curious about it. The excavations will be headed by the Kocaeli Museum under the consultancy of Tuna Şare and his team from the Kocaeli University. This project is also supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey [TÜBİTAK],” Gölcük added.

The Foundation for the Protection and Promotion of the Environment and Cultural Heritage’s (ÇEKÜL) Kocali representative, Numan Gülşah, said houses had been built on this area of the Roman Palace, while the underground structure covered a huge area of 60,000 square meters.

Gülşah, who is also the head of the Nicomedia Academy Association, said İzmit was named Nicomedia in the ancient era and was the capital of Rome from 284 to 330. The palace there was built by Diocletian.

The Roman Emperor Diocletian came to power in 284 AD. He was an army general with a repressive disdain of his 'subjects.' Diocletian ran his government as a general runs an army, giving orders and expecting them to be carried out. He believed that only severe restrictions on personal freedoms could bring order to the empire. By 301 AD, after the conclusion of conflicts with the Germans and the Sassanids, Diocletian needed a new enemy to justify his tyrannical form of government. At the same time, the Emperor declared the economy to be in crisis and implemented astronomical taxation increases. Amongst the people there surfaced a gradual unrest towards Diocletian's economic policy. The Emperor needed a new enemy to regain the support of his pseudo-slaves. After the earlier successful persecution of the Manichaeans, Diocletian slowly turned his head in the direction of the Christians, and his thumb was pointing down. This, despite the fact that he had largely ignored them for the past 15 years. Across the empire, Christians made up around ten percent of the population -- their number having doubled in about fifty years. Two kings had been converted: the king of Osroene in north eastern Mesopotamia and the king of Armenia. Christians were serving in Rome's armies, and they were working as civil servants in local government or in lowly positions on the imperial staff. Diocletian could see his scapegoat.

In the autumn of 302 AD Diocletian visited Antioch in Syria for an official engagement. Prior to this of course, there had to take place the customary Pagan sacrifice. But you see this time there was a problem. As the bloodletting ritual began, there came the vocal denouncements of the on looking Christians. Many made cross signs to ward off the evil influence of the sacrifice. Prominent amongst these brave dissenters was a Christian named Romanus. Diocletian fumed. " . . . In the first, while Diocletian was sacrificing in public, the chief interpreter of the victims' organs reported that he could not read the future in them because of the hostile influence of Christians standing around. Diocletian burst into a rage, insisting that all in his court should offer sacrifice, and sent out orders to his army to follow suit." (Ramsey MacMullen, Constantine, p.24).

This provided Diocletian with the perfect opportunity to launch his persecution and Romanus had his tongue cut off and languished in agony for over a year after in jail. Meanwhile, the Emperor demanded the Christians sacrifice to the gods of the state or face execution. Many refused and further retreated underground in the hope of avoiding the manic dictates of this mad general.

Diocletian's vice-emperor, Galerius, didn't have a hard time in persuading him that if a Palace were just to burn down, Diocletian could really accelerate his crusade against the Christians. Just by coincidence, twice within sixteen days toward the end of February, Diocletian's palace in Nicomedia burned. The Christians were immediately blamed.

A monumental crackdown then occurred as Diocletian issued four edicts against the Christians. Christian assemblies were forbidden. Bibles were confiscated and burned, and churches were destroyed. Christians were torn limb from limb in the arena, the animals goaded on by a mindless population who had accepted at face value the guilt of the Christians. Others were imprisoned and offered release if they appeased the Emperor's sick Pagan blood lust and made one sacrifice. The majority refused, yet Diocletian wanted disunity within the Christian ranks and so had some marked down as having made a sacrifice, even though they didn't.

The purges slowly and intermittently dragged on into the year 305, but by now the Christians had become too numerous across the empire to be wiped out. Despot Diocletian retired through illness in 305 AD. The vice-emperor in the east, Galerius, began a joint rule of the empire with the vice-emperor in Rome and the west: Constantius. Constantius died in battle in 306 AD and his son, Constantine, succeeded him. The thousands of Christians butchered by Diocletian in the purge had not died in vain. Constantine was to change the world by becoming the first Christian emperor.

Diokles, the humbly born Roman officer of Illiric heritage was born in the area of ancient Salona, a cosmopolitan town to the east of Split in the Mediterranean area which is now Croatia. Born on 22 December in 236 A.D. (or perhaps as late as 243-244), he ambitiously worked his way up the military ranks to an enviable position of head of Emperor Numerian's cavalry, his horseback riding division. At that time, the Roman Empire was greatly preoccupied with its ongoing wars with Persia.

According to legend, the young and ambitious Diokles visited a fortune teller, who told him that he would someday become Emperor! When would this take place, he asked? "When you kill the vepar" (a wild boar).

Several wild boars later, the Emperor and his sons were still alive and well. When they perished in September of 284 during the Persian War, Diokles (who was now renamed Diokletian) commented, "At last, I killed the fatal vepar". It is suspected, but not confirmed that he had a hand in their deaths.

On November 20, 284 A.D., Diokles - a boy from the outskirts of Split, became the new Roman Emperor. He received a new name, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, and a new title: The Son of Jupiter!

Two Augusts in 285 A.D.

Designated to rule the entire Roman Empire on a solo basis, he is credited with asking his friend and fellow Illirian Maksimijan (Maximian) to jointly rule alongside him. The two joined forces though each could go where he pleased. It wasn't like a divorce (this is what's yours, this is what's mine) but rather like a marriage (what's mine is yours and what's yours is also mine). The Diocletian ruled the Eastern half (from a Palace in Nicomedia, in modern day Turkey) controlling Asia Minor and Africa, and Maksimijan ruled the Western half (Gaul, today's France and the heart of today's Western Europe including Brittania) based near current day Milan in Italy. Rome ceased to remain the center of the Roman Empire

The Diocletian was instrumental in creating, defining and maintaining order within the already fraying Roman Empire. Being someone who had come from the "bottom up" he saw the Empire's excesses, corruption and areas which greatly lacked control. This was the beginning of a Golden Age for the Empire, particularly in the Split area where construction of his Palace immediately began. He alone is credited with saving the Eastern Half of the Roman Empire.

Nine years later in 293, he invited two Caesars to join his dual rule - they were Konstantin Klor, who was originally married to Saint Helena. He divorced Helena (who may have been his common law wife) in order to marry Maksimijan's stepdaughter, Teodozija. In a similar way, Galerius divorced his first wife to marry the Diocletian's own daughter Valerija (Valeria) which were probably the terms of employment in becoming joint heads of state.

Saint Helena remained close to her only son, offspring of Konstantin Klor, who was also named Konstantin or Konstantin the Great (in English it's spelled Constantine). Perhaps due to her maternal influence, Konstantine I (who later became Emperor himself) was responsible for declaring the Milan Edict in 313, legalizing Christianity. He had s struggle for power which lasted several years, but later ruled the Roman Empire single-handedly, dividing its territory between his three sons.

At the Golden Door on the North Side of the Palace remain four empty pedastols which are believed to have been the foundations for four statues of the four joint rulers of the Tetrarchy.

The Tetrarchy was also carved and displayed in Nikomedija (Nicomedia). It was later stolen and built into a wall on St. Mark's Square in Venice, where it can be seen to this day

Dioklecijan and Maksimijan (Augusts) with Galerija and Constantin Chlor (Caesars) as co-rulers across the massive Roman Empire. Constantine's nickname was "Pale Face".

The Diocletian's Palace: Why Did he Build it Here?

Historians speculate why the Diocletian built his palace in the Split Harbor. After all - why didn't he just live in Rome - or remain in Nikomedija from where he ruled?

We know that he suffered from rheumatism, and the sulfur water was important for his aching joints. To this day, the sea is clear and fragrant from the self-purifying water and the city has a Sulfur Bath Springs (or Toplica) for sufferers of arthritis or similar ailments.

He may have felt nostalgia for his homeland. When he did retire in 305 A.D., he is known for growing his own vegetables, which is something that the people of Dalmatia do to this very day - plant a garden and faithfully attend to it after retirement.

Construction of the Palace began soon after he took rule in late 284. Patterned after a Roman Vojska Logor (Military camp) it is rectangular in shape, with dimensions of 215 x 180 meters.

Graced with sixteen watch towers and built on the edge of the sea, it was a strong fortress against invaders.

The Palace has four distinct Gates. Its main and most glorious entrance is the Golden Gate, facing the North, linked by a road leading to the town of Salona, birthplace of the Diocletian. The city of Solin was a very important location, more important than Split was in the 4th century A.D. There were numerous basilicas, an Arena with lions and games of sport. It also had a theatre, several factories and a very cosmopolitan lifestyle, with natural water sources coming directly from the mountains behind today's Split.

Because of the short time frame in which the Palace was expected to be completed, and the unexpected abdication of the Emperor, the Palace was built very rapidly with many unfinished details. Two pagan temples near Jupiter's Temple were never completed. The Palace itself is a UNESCO world heritage site since 1979. Almost every age's architecture - Ancient, Romanesque, Renaissance, Baroque, Gothic - can be found within its walls.

Some of his attributes include his frugal nature. He had a passion for building, and is credited with building the Roman Baths - which he visited only once, during his 20th anniversary celebration of being the Emperor in Rome itself. He is the builder and engineer of the Diocletian's Palace in Split (then Aspalathos) which became the basis for the City of Split. He is credited with defining the "late Ancient era" of art and architecture due to his Roman styled arches, combined with Greek columns, Egyptian sphynx's and Dalmatian rock and tile. He was very decisive, with an Illiric practicality and sensible nature.

In twenty years time, he greatly reformed the system, dividing the population between military and civilian (since they had different needs), set up a fair and balanced accounting system, requisition system and organized purchasing system. He promoted social and health reforms and brought much needed order to the already crumbling Roman Empire.

How he was the Son of Jupiter

In the year 300 A.D., Paganism (Roman Gods) was the religion of the day. Rulers were gods, or at least descended from gods, or else how could they have been chosen to rule the masses? The general population accepted this logic, that an extraordinary individual could only be chosen to rule the Roman Empire.

At the center of the Palace was the Peristil, an open air court used for ceremonial functions. To this day, it is the pearl of the Palace, nearly always filled with visitors and locals. There are churches, Jupiter's Temple and two Sphynxs. It is the courtyard surrounded by imposing columns and arches where the Diocletian himself would emerge and receive homage from the people. They bowed prostrate and he would speak to them.

To this day, the same area is used for summer performances at the Palace, including the traditional performance of Guiseppe Verdi's Aida every summer during the Split Festival.

There are many legends of the two women in the Diocletian's life, who he obviously loved very much. To this day there is a stone carved portrait of wife Prisca in the Cathedral (his former Mausoleum). Together, they had one child, a daughter: Valerija (Valeria).It is probable that both wife and daughter of the Diocletian were in fact, "closet Christians".

The state arranged marriage of Valerija and Galerija was probably a farce intended to create solidarity between the Tetrarchy. It is even thought that Valerija fell in love with Saint George, an Christian martyr killed during 303-311 when the Four Edicts were in force.

He is (most unfortunately) best known for persecuting Christians. In those days, since Christians were monotheistic, they were automatically guilty of treason, since the Roman Empire like many (if not all ancient empires) were polytheistic. After all - they placed a god on the throne.

The Diocletian was in fact very tolerant towards the religion when he took rule in 284. We don't know if he received pressure to take action against these "rebel rousers" as he later called them, or if he in fact changed his mind over time. History shows that the Caesar Galerija was the most intolerant towards Christianity, and was the major reason that the first of the infamous Four Edicts were passed in late February 303.

This resulted in many deaths, including Saint Dominus (known as Sveti Duje or Sveti Dujam in Croatian), the Patron Saint of Split who was beheaded in the Ampitheatre at Solin in 304. A depiction of his death is shown carved in stone at the Altar of Sveti Duje in the Split Cathedral. It was at this site that Pope John Paul II knelt and prayed when he visited Croatia.

The co-Patron Saint of Split, Anastazija (a male) was thrown into the sea with a miller's stone tied around his neck.

Just about every saint from this era died a terrible death, and the Diocletian, being Emperor, was largely responsible for this trend. From what historians know, the crypts under today's churches in the Palace were used to torture Christians. Some of them have become churches or chapels in their own right. The Palace is filled with history - good, bad and unpleasant.

Additional saints that died during this time was Saint Anastasia from Zadar (a female) who was married to a Roman officer. She had been subjected to house arrest by her husband (since she was breaking the law) then eventually sent to Rome where she was burned at the stake on Christmas in the year 304.

Saint Lucy (Sveta Lucija) from Siracuse, Italy was also tortured and killed, her eyes removed. Saint George (Sv. Jure) who is famed for "killing the dragon" (an acronym for 'destroying evil') was also tortured and killed during the Diocletian's reign.

Only a short time later, the Diocletian unexpectedly abdicated his throne on May 1, 305. No one knows exactly why, but the author of this Hub believes he had probably had enough of the entire mess.

He died perhaps on 3 December 316. How he died is not clear. He either died by his own hand (suicide) by drinking poison, or may have been poisoned. In those days, no autopsy was done. The general consensus is that he died of old age within the walls of his Palace.

As an Emperor, he stands alone in the history of Rome for many reasons. First, he was the one and only Emperor to step down on his own volition. He was not murdered on the throne, as usually was the case.

In 306 he attended a meeting near modern day Vienna, where he was invited to return to his former position of Emperor. To this, he made the surprising answer "If only you could see the vegetables that I grow around the Palace with my own hands, you would never provide me with these tempting offers." He was particularly proud of his cabbages. In other words - thanks, but no thanks

The Diocletian experienced something called damnatio memoriae - or, "let's pretend that he never existed". Numerous statues and relics of the 20 long year reigning Emperor were destroyed. His sakofag (burial tomb carved of burgundy colored rock) was destroyed and thrown into the sea, presumably by angry Christians

Konstantin Klor died in 306 in Britannia ("of illness"), but not without great animosity towards the Diocletian. He felt great personal embarrassment towards the Diocletian for not immediately naming him as successor ruler when the Diocletian stepped down in 305. He was among the first to criticize the Diocletian as an old man who was "hiding" in his Palace upon retirement. But history cannot deny the Diocletian's greatness.

Konstantin (the son)

Konstantin became Roman Emperor from 306-337. Also known as "Constantine the Great", he best known for legalizing Christianity with the Milan Edict just a few years later, in 313 A.D. After eliminating Galeria ("the Barbarian"), he ruled the entire Roman Empire alone, later dividing the job between his three sons, who all had names similar to his own. Constantin II, Constantius, and Constans. His daughters were named Constantina and Helena.

He named a city Helenopolis (present day Altinova, not far from where Nicomedia once stood) after his beloved mother, Helena.

She was responsible for finding the True Cross and Manger in the Holy Land. It was three hundred years since the Christ, and managed to have these relics preserved in silver so that they would not decay.

No one knows if Constantine was a Christian from his youth, or gradually accepted the religion with time.

When the Avars and the Slavs destroyed Salona around 615 A.D., the residents of the town took refuge on the surrounding islands, then, after receiving permission, moved into the Diocletian's Palace. In the same century, Ivan Ravnjanin moved the Archdiocese to Split instead of Salona (today's Solin). In the 7th century, pagan objects of worship were removed ("cleansed") from the Diocletian's Mausoleum and the Cathedral began to evolve. Originally named after the Assumption of Mary, it is best known as Cathedral Sveti Duje. Its altars which hold the physical remains of both saints Duje and Anastasia are among the most ornate in Europe. Craftsmen from all over Europe came to work on them, with stone carvings and oil paintings in every corner of the Cathedral. Photography is not allowed inside. There is a video (with the amazing sounds of its bells) below showing some of the church's best known cultural treasures and attributes.

Pope John Paul II's himself visited the Cathedral in 1997. You could say that Sveti Duje had the last laugh. From being a place of torture and suffering, the Split Cathedral became one of the oldest and best loved Churches in all of Europe and the world.